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Processes occurring in the tropical upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UT/LS) are of importance for the global climate, for the stratospheric dynamics and air chemistry, and they influence the global distribution of water vapour, trace gases and aerosols. The mechanisms underlying cloud formation and variability in the UT/LS are of scientific concern as these still are not adequately described and quantified by numerical models. Part of the reasons for this is the scarcity of detailed in-situ measurements in particular from the Tropical Transition Layer (TTL) within the UT/LS. In this contribution we provide measurements of particle number densities and the amounts of non-volatile particles in the submicron size range present in the UT/LS over Southern Brazil, West Africa, and Northern Australia. The data were collected in-situ on board of the Russian high altitude research aircraft M-55 "Geophysica" using the specialised COPAS (COndensation PArticle counting System) instrument during the TROCCINOX (Araçatuba, Brazil, February 2005), the SCOUT-O3 (Darwin, Australia, December 2005), and SCOUT-AMMA (Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, August 2006) campaigns. The vertical profiles obtained are compared to those from previous measurements from the NASA DC-8 and NASA WB-57F over Costa Rica and other tropical locations between 1999 and 2007. The number density of the submicron particles as function of altitude was found to be remarkably constant (even back to 1987) over the tropical UT/LS altitude band such that a parameterisation suitable for models can be extracted from the measurements. At altitudes corresponding to potential temperatures above 430 K a slight increase of the number densities from 2005/2006 results from the data in comparison to the 1987 to 2007 measurements. The origins of this increase are unknown. By contrast the data from Northern hemispheric mid latitudes do not exhibit such an increase between 1999 and 2006. Vertical profiles of the non-volatile fraction of the submicron particles were also measured by a COPAS channel and are presented here. The resulting profiles of the non-volatile number density fraction show a pronounced maximum of 50% in the tropical TTL over Australia and West Africa. Below and above this fraction is much lower attaining values of 10% and smaller. In the lower stratosphere the fine particles mostly consist of sulphuric acid which is reflected in the low numbers of non-volatile residues measured by COPAS. Without detailed chemical composition measurements the reason for the increase of non-volatile particle fractions cannot yet be given. The long distance transfer flights to Brazil, Australia and West-Africa were executed during a time window of 17 months within a period of relative volcanic quiescence. Thus the data measured during these transfers represent a "snapshot picture" documenting the status of a significant part of the global UT/LS aerosol (with sizes below 1 μm) at low concentration levels 15 years after the last major (i.e., the 1991 Mount Pinatubo) eruption. The corresponding latitudinal distributions of the measured particle number densities are also presented in this paper in order to provide input on the UT/LS background aerosol for modelling purposes.
A characterization of the ultra-fine aerosol particle counter COPAS (COndensation PArticle counting System) for operation on board the Russian high altitude research aircraft M-55 Geophysika is presented. The COPAS instrument consists of an aerosol inlet and two dual-channel continuous flow Condensation Particle Counters (CPCs) operated with the chlorofluorocarbon FC-43. It operates at pressures between 400 and 50 hPa for aerosol detection in the particle diameter (dp) range from 6 nm up to 1 micro m. The aerosol inlet, designed for the M-55, is characterized with respect to aspiration, transmission, and transport losses. The experimental characterization of counting efficiencies of three CPCs yields dp50 (50% detection particle diameter) of 6 nm, 11 nm, and 15 nm at temperature differences (DeltaT) between saturator and condenser of 17°C, 30°C, and 33°C, respectively. Non-volatile particles are quantified with a fourth CPC, with dp50=11 nm. It includes an aerosol heating line (250°C) to evaporate H2SO4-H2O particles of 11 nm<dp<200 nm at pressures between 70 and 300 hPa. An instrumental in-flight inter-comparison of the different COPAS CPCs yields correlation coefficients of 0.996 and 0.985. The particle emission index for the M-55 in the range of 1.4–8.4×10 16 kg -1 fuel burned has been estimated based on measurements of the Geophysika's own exhaust.